Carrageenan … a popular thickener in food and body care
in the early morning of August 21st, 2007Yet another example of an additive in widespread use, whilst there are still doubts about it’s safety.
Carrageenan is a group of polysaccharides extracted from a particular type of seaweed. It derives its name from Irish Moss, that is prolific along the Irish coastline near the village of Carragheen.
It is a gel and coats the insides of a stomach, like gooey honey or massage oil, with digestive problems often ensuing. Quite often, soy eaters or soymilk drinkers react negatively to Carrageenan, and blame their discomforting stomach aches on the soy.
Carrageenan can be found in a multitude of products from beer and diet sodas as a clarifier, to milkshakes, ice cream, sauces, desserts, processed meats and pates as an emulsifing agent. In body care, it is used in shampoos, creams and aloe vera as a thickener.
Carrageenan is considered to be safe!
Read on…
[Carrageenan-Induced Inclusions in Mammary Mycoepithelial Cells, Joanne Tobacman, MD, and Katherine Walters, BS, Cancer Detection and Prevention, 25(6): 520-526 (2001)]
Tobacman studied the effect of carrageenan on the growth of cultured human mammaryepithelial cells over a two week period. She found that extremely low doses of carrageenan disrupted the internal cellular architecture of healthy breast tissue, leading her to conclude:
“The widely used food additive, carrageenan has marked effects on the growth and characteristics of human mammary myoepithelial cells in tissue cultures at concentrations much less than those frequently used in food products to improve solubility.”
Tobacman continued her work by exposing low concentrations of carrageenan for short intervals to human breast tissue and observed pathological alterations in cellular membranes and intracellular tissues.
There is high molecular weight carrageenan which is considered to be safe, and low molecular weight carrageenans (poligeenan) which are carcinogenic, however, acid hydrolysis (digestion) leads to shortening of the carrageenan polymer to the degraded form, poligeenan. Normal gastric acid…acts upon ingested carrageenan and convert some of which is ingested to the lower molecular weight poligeenan during the actual process of digestion. Also, some intestinal bacteria possess the enzyme carrageenase that degrades carrageenan.
Carrageenan is also used prolifically in BABY FOOD!!!
I know I’ll sleep better in the knowledge that the safety of my family and I are in caring, capable hands, who would never cut corners to profiteer at the expense of our health. What about you?
